The Government Medical College and Hospital (GMCH) on Saturday conducted a mega cleanliness drive following allegations last week over indiscriminate dumping of medical waste.As a part of the drive, the hospital premises were cleaned. However, in absence of a waste management system, mixed waste wrapped in plastic bags was buried in front of the medicine building. GMCH medical superintendent Bharat Sonawane explained that the bags were made of a biodegradable material and contain only organic waste. “We lifted the waste collected at different wards and cleared the waste behind the mortuary building (near the compound wall of the educational institutes) and dumped it in front of the medicine building. It comprises only wet waste which will get degraded naturally,” Sonawane said.The bags dumped included blue, black and yellow bags marked as biodegradable. GMCH has designated yellow bags for human anatomical waste, infected cotton and other contaminated waste, and blue for broken or discarded, contaminated glass. However, a closer inspection by TOI revealed that bags of all colours contained wet waste, plastic waste, glass, infected cotton, syringes and glucose bottles.Troublingly, waste pickers were seen using their hands to separate recyclable trash from sanitary and biomedical waste. “We know it is harmful, but we have to earn a living,” a waste picker said.

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